Passage Summary:
Gerald Ford's presidency began in 1974 – nearly 30 years after the end of WWII. In this speech, Ford discusses Japanese Internment, or the relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans, during WWII. As Ford states in the speech, "We now know what we should have known then--not only was that evacuation wrong, but Japanese-Americans were and are loyal Americans."
When and How to Pair:
Introduce this speech after students have completed reading the memoir, in order to prompt them to reflect on the American history of Japanese internment and attitudes towards it today. How does President Ford’s speech use history in order to assert American values? How does the speech, confirming that Japanese internment has been terminated, also make a claim that internment was wrong? How do stories like Jeanne’s help us better understand right from wrong?